New Hampshire changed everything
by ayarian88
Summary: What if when Rory left the boys in New Hampshire in A Year in the Life, the only person that she said goodbye to was Logan and only pretended to say goodbye to Colin, Finn and Robert.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Prologue

What if when Rory left the boys in New Hampshire in A Year in the Life, the only person that she said goodbye to was Logan and only pretended to say goodbye to Colin, Finn and Robert.

When Rory got back to Stars Hollow, she thought that she might have been pregnant, but it turned out that it was just a false alarm. After Luke and Lorelai's wedding, Rory spent the week that they were gone on their honeymoon to track down all of her boxes and have them shipped to her apartment in Queens. Jess had been really helpful during that week. She had even enlisted Colin and Finn to fetch her boxes that Logan had been storing for her. Logan wasn't happy that they were helping her, but he understood.

She told Taylor that she would be working at the gazette one day a week but that she needed a job that would actually pay something. Of course, Taylor being Taylor was reluctant at first, but he eventually caved like he always does.

When Luke and Lorelai came back from their honeymoon, Rory was all set to move. Colin, Finn, Robert and Jess were there to help move all the furniture and then Lorelai and Stephanie were there to help move all of the boxes. Lorelai had to admit that Rory's Queens apartment was much better than her Brooklyn apartment. And it was definitely better than the apartment that she shared with Paris during her senior year at Yale.

Colin decided to hang around with Rory after everyone left and headed home. He ordered them a pizza.

Rory POV

"Thanks for hanging out Colin." I said.

"It's no problem. Just so you know, Logan doesn't know that Finn, Robert and I are still in contact with you." Colin said.

"Thanks for not telling him. I mean I know that I shouldn't have asked but…it's the way that it has to be."

"I know Ror. He doesn't love her."

"I know but he made his choice." I said, grabbing another slice of pizza. "Colin, it's time for me to really move on with my life. Logan's always been this little piece in my heart that I could always count on." I reached for the bottle of tequila that was sitting on my coffee table. "But I need to stop letting him be that person. He can't be that person anymore." I said, taking a drink.

"I can't blame you, Ror. I get it, I do. And you're right. You do have to move on. So, what's your next move?" Colin asked me.

"I have no idea. I mean I'm working on my novel, and I've got articles here and there. But that's about it. I mean I was so wrapped up in my Vegas agreement with Logan that I kept forgetting about a boyfriend that I had. And the more that I got wrapped up with Logan the more I forgot about Paul to the point that the day of Mom and Luke's wedding he texted me and broke up with me." I said.

Colin grabbed the bottle from me and took a drink. "I'm sorry Ror. But I do agree that you made the right choice letting him go. I'm just glad that you didn't let the rest of us go."

"I was just glad that you and Finn understood what I was doing and read between the lines. It was hard enough to let him go. I couldn't lose you guys too. You know?" I asked.

"I know." Colin said. We sat there and stared at each for a minute. "Ror, I have a confession to make and I probably shouldn't tell you this without Finn being here." Colin said, as I took the bottle back away.

I took a drink. "Just tell me." I said.

"Okay, so around the time that Logan and Odette's engagement was announced, Finn and I went to visit him. We took him out and tried to talk some sense into him. I mean it's us, so of course we knew about the two of you. We tried to tell him that he needed to break off the engagement. He told us that he couldn't do that because it would go against his father's dynastic plan. So, then Finn brought up to him what was going to happen with the two of you when he got married. He was silent." I took another drink. "His only response was that he couldn't let you go."

I took another drink. "He was going to keep me as his mistress wasn't, he?" I asked.

I looked over at Colin and he nodded. "Yeah Ror. I'm sorry." He said.

"It's not your fault. I'm the one that was stupid. I should have known that it was never going to work out." I said.

Colin and I drank a little more before I decided that I needed to crash. I looked over at him and the next thing I know I blurted out, "Will you stay with me tonight?"

"Sure, thing Ror." Colin said.

"Thanks." I said, leaning over and kissing Colin on his cheek. Or at least that was what it was supposed to be. Instead of me kissing Colin's cheek he turned his head and our lips touched. I couldn't believe it. I had kissed Colin. Logan's best friend. What did this even mean? When I pulled back, I couldn't help but stare at him. "What was that?" I asked.

"A kiss." Colin said.

"I know that, but it was supposed to be on your cheek." I said.

"I know." He said.

I stood up and walked to my kitchen. I needed coffee and I needed it now. I heard Colin follow me. "You know." I started making a pot of coffee.

"Rory, please don't over think this."

"I don't over think things." I said, causing Colin to raise an eyebrow at me. "Okay maybe I do. But Colin what am I supposed to think about this." I turned back to the coffee to wait on it to finish.

"I just want to be someone that you can count on." Colin said. He grabbed my hand and turned me toward him. "Rory, you deserve someone who won't put you second. You deserve someone who wants to put you first."

Wow. I couldn't believe that Colin was saying all of these things about me. But what he was saying was the truth. For years I had known that Logan was in a relationship with the French Heiress named Odette, but it wasn't until things started get hard in Stars Hollow that I started to try to cling to him, but Colin was right I did deserve better. But could Colin be that person that I could rely on? "Yes, but your Logan's best friend." I said.

"I may be his best friend, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters right now is you." He said.


	2. Chapter 2

Playlist: "Start of something good" by Daughtry

Chapter 2

Rory POV

The next morning, I woke up feeling disoriented. I sat up in my bed and tried to remember what had happened the night before. I remembered everyone helping me move and then I remembered that Colin ordered a pizza. Oh my God! Colin. Tequila. The kiss. Everything was coming back. I needed coffee. I got up and headed to my kitchen. I walked into my kitchen to see that coffee had already been made. There was a note next to the coffee pot.

 _"Rory -_

 _Sorry if I spooked you last night. I wasn't trying to. I just wanted you to know that not every guy is like Logan and that you deserve better. I'm here if you need me._

 _Colin"_

I fixed myself a cup of coffee and then went to sit on my couch. I needed to talk to Mom about this. I mean she already knew that Logan and I had been seeing each other the last five years and I told her that it was over, but this was new information and I needed someone to talk to. I grabbed my cell and called Mom.

"Morning sweets." She said.

"Hey mom, are you busy?" I asked.

"Not really. Everything okay?" Mom asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Explain."

"Okay so after everyone left last night, Colin and I were sitting on the couch talking and I told him that I was going to bed and I went to kiss his cheek like I have a million times before and we kissed."

"Like kissed?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay then what happened?"

I got up and went into the kitchen to get another cup of coffee. "And then we talked some more, and he said that I deserved someone that would put me first." I said.

I walked back to the living room and sat back on the couch. "I'm assuming that the two of you had been talking about Logan?"

"Yeah. What do you think it all means?" I asked her.

"Honestly kid? It sounds to me like he likes you. What are you thinking?"

"I don't know Mom. I mean on one hand, I felt something when we kissed but at the same time…he's Logan's best friend. I can't even imagine how hurt he would be if he found out that there was something going on between his almost-fiancé and his best friend." I said, ranting.

"Yeah, but Ror, if you think that there might be something there…do you really want to waste time? I mean look at how much time Luke and I wasted because I was afraid to take that risk?"

"I guess you have a point."

Colin POV

When I left Rory's that morning, I went to meet Finn for breakfast before he headed back to Boston. When I got to the diner, he was waiting for me. "Hey man." I said.

"What's wrong?" He asked me.

"Why would you think that something is wrong?"

"Because you have that look?"

"What look?" I asked.

"That look that you get when you did something that could possibly have consequences even though it was worth it." Finn said.

The waitress brought me a cup of coffee and we ordered our food. "I kissed Rory." I said.

"You what? What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that Logan is being an ass letting her go and listening to The Dark Lord and that Rory deserves better." I said, and it was the truth. I had developed feelings for Rory over the last few years and even though I know that Logan would be pissed…I really didn't care at the moment. He was being stupid going along with Mitchum's plan.

"You told her, didn't you?" I raised an eyebrow at him in confusion. "You told her that you had feelings for her, didn't you?" Finn asked me.

"Not in so many words."

Right as the waitress brought our food, Finn pointed his finger at me and said, "Don't screw this up."

"I don't plan on it."

Rory POV

I was unpacking some boxes in my office, when there was a knock on my front door. I walked through my apartment and opened the front door. "Hey." I said.

"Hey. Sorry I left before you got up. I had to meet Finn before he headed back to Boston." Colin said.

I opened the door and let him in. "It's okay. It gave me some time to do some thinking." I said, closing it behind him.

"Good thinking or bad thinking?"

"I'm not really sure." I said, and he nodded. "Colin, what was that last night? I feel like I missed something." I said walking over and sitting on the couch.

"Last night…that was me attempting to tell you about my feelings, and I don't think that I did a very good job of it."

"How long have you had feelings for me?" I asked him.

Colin stuffed his hands into his pockets. "For a while. I guess the true realization was when Logan said that he was willing to keep you as his mistress after he got married." Colin said.

"Colin…"

He crossed the room and came to sit beside me on the couch. He grabbed my hand. "Rory, can you honestly tell me that you didn't feel something when we kissed last night?"

"I can't."

"Can't what?"

"I can't tell you that I didn't feel something because I did. It was the best kiss that I've had in a long time."

"Okay." Colin said. "I'm failing to see the problem here then."

I got up and went to the kitchen to make coffee. Colin followed me. "Your Logan's best friend."

"Friends are over rated." He said.

I started the coffee and then turned around leaning against the counter and looked at him. "He would be pissed to find out that his best friend and his almost fiancé were dating."

Colin walked towards me and grabbed my hands. "Rory, yes he would be pissed but eventually he would come around. Things happen, people change. He did. He went from playboy to boyfriend to trying to have the best of both worlds. Rory, all I'm asking for is a chance. A chance to show you what you deserve." Colin said. His words were so real. I didn't know what was happening. With Colin still holding my hands, I looked up at him. I saw something in his eyes that hadn't been there the night before or if it had, I hadn't noticed. I leaned up and kissed Colin. The kiss was so gentle. I felt Colin let go of my hands and wrap his arms around me pulling me to him as close as he could. I heard the coffee pot beep indicating that the coffee was done. Colin pulled back from me slowly and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "So, what do you say? Will you give me a chance?" He asked.

I had jumped with Logan. Why couldn't I do the same with Colin? Mom was right. What if I wasted any more time and Colin was the one that I was really supposed to be with? "Okay. I'll give you a chance." I said.

I smiled at Colin before turning to the coffee pot and fixing both of us a cup of coffee.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rory POV

It's been a month since Colin and I got together. Steph and I have been spending a lot of time together. We get lunch together one day a week and then we have girl's night on Friday night. My Saturdays are left open for Colin. We usually end up spending the whole day together. However, today is different. Colin, Finn and Steph are in Hartford for Logan's engagement party. Grandma had been invited but she had declined. She said that it was Shira's way of rubbing it in our face that Logan was marrying someone better than me.

Not wanting to think about Logan's engagement and wedding any longer, I decided to take a trip. I packed a bag and got in my car and drove. There was only one place that I could go and not hear about the upcoming events. I headed to Philly.

Colin POV

Finn and I were sitting in the living room of my Hartford condo. We were supposed to meet Logan at the club in an hour for a round of golf. "Are you gonna tell him this weekend?" Finn asked me.

"I don't know Finn. I know that I need to. He's going to be pissed either way. It doesn't matter when I tell him." I said.

"It's been a month."

"I know Finn."

"Maybe you should tell him after golf. He's always relaxed after a round of golf." Finn said.

"Yeah maybe." I said.

When we got to the club, Logan was already waiting for us. "Hey guys." He said.

"Hey man." I said.

"You guys aren't gonna believe what my mother has done now."

Finn and I both looked at each other. "What?" I asked.

"She sent Rory's grandma an invitation to the party tonight." Logan said.

"Is she coming?" I asked. Emily knew about me and Rory. We had spent last weekend with her at her home in Nantucket.

"Of course not. Emily knows that my mother is just trying to rub all of this in her face. I called Emily to apologize for my mother and she said not to worry about it…that Rory was happy and that she was seeing someone." Logan said.

"Really? You talked to Emily?" I asked, and Logan nodded. I guess now was as good a time as any. "What do you say to a drink before golf?"

"Let's go." Logan said. We made our way to the club bar and grabbed a table. We ordered drinks and waited. "Who do you think she's dating? I mean, I know that we ended things and I want her to be happy but…"

I let out a sigh. "Logan, I gotta tell you something." He looked at me. "Rory and I have been dating." I said.

He was now glaring at me. "Your dating Rory?" Logan asked, and I could sense anger in his voice.

"Yes." I said.

"How long?"

"A month." I said.

"That means, it was a few weeks after New Hampshire."

"Yes."

Logan picked up his drink and downed it. "You love her?" He asked me.

I nodded. "I do. All I want is for her to be happy."

"At least that's something that we agree on." Logan said.

"So? Are we good?" I asked.

"I don't know. I need time to process this." Logan said, and I nodded. "Is she coming with you to the wedding?"

I shook my head. "No, she doesn't want to feel like Odette is being rubbed in her face and she doesn't want you to feel like we're rubbing our relationship in yours." I told him.

He nodded. "That sounds like Rory. And knowing my mother, that's exactly what would happen." Logan said.

I downed my drink. Well at least he didn't punch me like I thought that he would.

Rory POV

When I got to Philly, I parked my car in front of Truncheon. I grabbed my phone and keys and went inside. The first person that I saw was Jess's friend Matt. "Hey Matt." I said.

"Oh, hey Rory. How are ya?" He said.

"Not bad. Jess here?" I asked.

"Yeah he's in his office. Go on back." Matt said.

I smiled. "Thanks." I said and made my way towards Jess's office. His door was open, and he was in the middle of typing. He didn't even notice me. I leaned against the doorframe. I knocked on it. He looked up at me. "Hey Dodger." I said.

"Hey. What're you doing here? Don't you and Colin usually spend the whole day together?" He asked me.

"He's in Hartford this weekend. Logan's engagement party." I said.

"Ah." He said. I walked into his office and he moved a stack of manuscripts out of a chair so that I could sit down. "So, what brings you to my neck of the woods."

"I needed to get out of New York for the weekend."

"And you couldn't go to the Hollow?" He asked.

"Nope. Can't go anywhere near Hartford." I said.

"Got ya. So how long are you staying?" He said.

"Just till tomorrow." I said. "So, how ever will you entertain me?" I said with a smile.

"Strip club?" Jess said and we both started laughing.

I was laying on Jess's couch at three o'clock in the morning when my cell started ringing. I grabbed it off the coffee table and answered it. "Hello?" I said, groggily.

"Rory, it's Steph." She said. She had worry in her voice.

I quickly sat up. "Steph, what's wrong?" I asked.

"We have a problem."

"What happened?"

"Okay. Logan found out that you were seeing someone, so Colin told him about you and him. Well tonight at the party, Logan got drunk, which isn't unusual but then he started saying stuff about you and him and Colin got into a fight. They both got arrested." Steph said.

"I'll kill them both. I'm on my way." I said and hung up. I quickly got up and dressed. I wrote Jess a note telling him what was going on and I left. I had to get to Hartford.

A couple hours later, I'm walking into the Hartford Police Department. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm here to post bail for Logan Huntzberger and Colin McCrea." I said.

The guy started typing on the computer. He told me an amount and I handed him the credit card that Colin had given me. "They'll be out in a few minutes, have a seat."

I walked over and sat on one of the benches. I remembered the time that Logan and I had gotten arrested when we stole the yacht. This must have been how Mom felt when she had to come bail me out. Sure enough, a few minutes later the both of them came walking out. I crossed my arms in front of my chest. "Ror." Colin said.

"We'll talk later. Both of you…in the car." I said and walked out of the police department. I drove us to Colin's condo in Hartford. "Inside. Both of you." I got out of the car and made my way to the front door and unlocked it. Once inside, I went to make coffee. I walked into the living room to find them sitting on the couch. I sat in the chair across from them. I didn't say anything…not yet.

"Ror." Logan said.

"No. Not yet." I said. They both looked at each other. I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. A minute later, I heard the coffee pot beep. I went to the kitchen and fixed the three of us coffee. I came back, handed them their coffee and sat back in the chair. "Drink." I said, taking a drink of my coffee.

"Ror, can you please say something." Colin said.

"Before you say anything, I want to say thanks for coming to bail me out." Logan said.

"Don't thank me, it was Colin's credit card." I said, looking at Colin.

Logan looked at Colin. "I'll pay you back."

Colin nodded. They both turned back to me. "My turn. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TWO THINKING? The two of have been best friends longer than you've known me. Why would you feel the need to get drunk and fight over me? I'm not worth it." I said. I pointed to Logan, "You made your choice. You chose Odette and your father's plan. You have to let me go and live your life. I've moved on."

"With my best friend." Logan said.

"I wasn't done. Yes, with your best friend. But despite what you might think…It wasn't like we planned it. It just sort of happened. But at least I didn't flaunt it in your face like your mother tried to do. Yes, I know about the invitation that she sent to Grandma. Colin and I were there when she got it. Grandma was humiliated. Logan, you have to live your life and let me live mine." I said.

Logan sat his cup on the table and looked at the floor. "I know. I'm sorry Ror." He said. Then he looked at Colin. "I'm sorry, man. Maybe you can make her happier than I did." Logan stood up. "I'm gonna go." He said making his way toward the front door.

"Logan?" I said, causing him to turn toward me. "Just give it some time."

He nodded. "Bye Rory." And with that he left.

I stood up from my chair and walked over to Colin. I sat in his lap and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. I looked at his face, seeing the red spot on his face. "So, you used my credit card?" He asked, with a smile.

"Yep. What the hell were you thinking? I thought that we had agreed to talk to him together after the wedding." I said.

"I know, I'm sorry. He was talking about the invitation and that he called Emily and she told him that you were seeing someone and it just kind of came out." He said. "Forgive me?"

"Of course, I forgive you. It's just that a little warning would have been nice."

"I know. How did you even know that we got arrested?" He asked.

"Steph called me. I was in Philly."

Colin nodded. "How's Jess?" He asked.

"Good. Busy. I was asleep on his couch when Steph called me." I told him. "Let's go to bed. It's been a long night." He nodded, and we headed to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Rory POV

In the weeks that followed Logan's engagement party, everyone was busy. But even through the crazy schedules, Colin and I managed to find time to spend together. He was putting in extra hours at work because he was taking off four days for Logan's wedding in a couple of weeks. Steph and I had gone shopping for her dress. Finn was in town so the four of us had gotten dinner.

This particular day, I was sitting in a coffee shop working on some last-minute changes to my book when my cell rang. I looked at my caller id and saw that it was Logan. I answered it. "Logan, hi." I said, surprised that he was calling me.

"Hi. So, I know that things are weird right now, but Odette found some pictures of us and she wants to meet you." Logan said.

I sat back in my chair. "I don't know Logan." I said.

"It could be the four of us. Me, Odette and you and Colin." He said.

"Won't it be weird?" I asked.

"A little. She really wants to meet you."

"I'll talk to Colin. When?" I asked.

"Tomorrow night. She's gotta head back to London after that to finalize a few things." He said.

"Okay. I'll let you know." I said and hung up.

That night, I met Colin for dinner. He was coming straight from work and then he had to go back. I was sitting at the table with my martini waiting for him. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to look, and it was him. "Sorry, I know I'm late." He said, kissing me on my cheek.

"It's okay. I haven't been here long." I said.

"I'm trying to get this case wrapped up before Logan's wedding." He said, and I nodded.

"Speaking of Logan. He called me today." I told him. "Apparently, Odette found some pictures of me and him and wants to meet me." I said.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yeah. They want to have dinner with us tomorrow night before she heads back to London." I said. "What do you think?"

"It'll be weird."

"That's what I said. He said, it'll be fine." I took a drink of my martini. "I told him that I had to talk to you."

"I mean it couldn't hurt. I mean you'd have to meet her eventually." He said.

It made sense. Even though right now things were weird between us and Logan, Colin was right. Logan was his best friend and we'd eventually be around them whether it was some party in Hartford or it was something else. "Yeah your right." I said, finishing my martini as I saw the waitress coming to take our order. We order our food and I ordered another Martini. That night when I got home, I called Logan and told him that we would meet them for dinner. He said that they had reservations at this restaurant in New York. I told him we'd see him there. I texted Colin the information about dinner before I headed to bed.

The next evening, I was getting ready for dinner. I was wearing a black fitted strapless dress and a pair of my black heels. "You look beautiful." I heard. I turned to look at my doorway. Colin was standing there wearing his suit.

"Thanks. You don't look so bad yourself." I said as I walked over to him and kissed him.

"You about ready to go? We don't want to be late." He said.

"Yeah. I just have to grab my coat." I said, and we walked into the living room.

When we got to the restaurant, Colin told the hostess who we were meeting, and she led us to the table. When we got to the table, Logan and Odette were already waiting on us. She was pretty. She had long blonde hair that was sleeked back. I could see why Shira had wanted her for Logan. We sat down across from them. "Hey guys." Logan said. "Rory, this Odette. Odette, this is…Rory." He said.

"It's nice to meet you." I said, using my society voice.

"Rory, I'm so happy to finally meet you. Logan has told me so much about you." Odette said.

"Really?" Colin and I both said at the same time.

"Don't sound so surprised." Logan said.

There was a martini sitting in front of me. I picked it up and took a drink. "So, Rory. Logan says that you're a journalist." Odette said.

"Actually, right now I'm writing a book. But I do a bit of freelance here and there." I told her.

"That sounds amazing. You'll have to let me know when you get it published. I'd love to read it."

"Sure, I'd be happy to." The waitress came and took our order. Once she left, we sat there in silence for a few minutes. Not being able to handle the silence any more, I spoke up. "I hate to be blunt, but why did you want to meet me?" I said.

"Honestly?" She asked, and I nodded. "Well, you've been a big part of Logan's life for a long time. And now you're a big part of Colin's life. There are bound to be times that we're going to run into each other. I just think that it would be a good idea if maybe we could work towards being friends, I think that it would be nice if there wasn't any awkwardness whenever we saw each other." Odette said.

I hadn't thought about it like that. "I guess you're right." I said.

Odette and I spent the rest of dinner getting to know each other. It turned out that we had quite a bit in common. When dinner was over, the four of us walked outside to our cars. I was surprised when Odette hugged me. "Rory, I've really enjoyed getting to know you tonight." Odette said.

"It was better than I thought it was going to be." I said.

"Rory, I know that this will sound strange but please don't say no. It would mean a lot to me if you'd come to the wedding with Colin."

When she said this, Colin and Logan both stared at her. "I don't know." I said. "Shira wouldn't like it." I thought for a minute. It would really bug Shira Odette being friends with me. I thought about it for a minute. "Sure. As long as Logan doesn't have a problem with it." I said, looking at Logan and Colin.

"Odette, are you sure about this?" He asked her.

"Of course. Rory and Steph will be there to keep me company and I won't have to spend all evening talking to your mother." She said.

"Okay then it's settled." Logan said.

Colin POV

When Rory and I walked into my apartment a little while later, I knew that I had to talk to her. She walked towards the bedroom saying that she needed to get out of that dress. I followed her so that we could talk. "Hey Ror?" I said.

"Yeah." She said from the bathroom.

"Umm…just out of curiosity what were you thinking?" She poked her head out of the bathroom looking at me confused. "Agreeing to go to Logan's wedding."

"I was thinking that it will drive Shira insane to see Odette friends with me." She said.

I guess that was a good reason. "So, you're sure about this? I mean, you know that there's a good chance that she might try to start a confrontation, right?" I said sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Yeah, I know that there's that chance." She said coming out of the bathroom wearing her Yale sweats. She walked over and stood in front of me, resting her arms on my shoulders. "But I didn't make my decision based on that. I based it on the fact that I'd get to spend the whole evening with my boyfriend who has been working insanely crazy hours lately and neglecting his girlfriend." She said causing me to smile.

"I'm sorry. I guess I just felt like you weren't going for me you know." I said.

She kissed me. "I'm sorry if you felt that way, but you are the reason that I'm going. No one else. I've missed you lately."

"I know. I've missed you too." I said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Rory POV

It was the weekend before Logan's wedding and Mom and I were shopping for my dress. It had to be eloquent, but it couldn't up stage the bride. Odette and I had surprisingly become fast friends. Mom and I were walking. I had been telling her about our dinner with Logan and Odette. Mom said that Shira had probably given her an ear full at adding a guest last minute. Not to mention adjusting the seating chart. Mom and I couldn't help but laugh about it. Mom made me promise to take pictures.

"Do you ever think about it?" Mom asked me.

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and stared at her. "Think about what?" I asked.

"Marriage?"

"Sometimes." I said, as I started walking again. "I didn't used to, you know. I mean, I was traveling all the time and I was focused on my career." I said, and Mom nodded, as we walked into a coffee shop and sat at a table ordering our coffee. "But ever since things have slowed down…yeah I think about it." I told her.

"Have you and Colin talked about the future?" She asked me.

"A little. His Dad wants him to take over the Hartford office. Colin wants me to move to Hartford with him." I told her.

"That's a big step."

"I know. The only guy I've ever lived with was Logan." I said.

"I know." Mom took a drink of her coffee.

"Mom, I'm falling in love with him."

"I know kid. I don't think I've ever seen you this happy in a relationship." Mom said.

"I don't think I ever have been." I said.

"So, what are you gonna do?"

Colin POV

It had been a week since I had asked Rory to move to Hartford with me. I was sitting in my office working on some case files, when my office phone rang. I picked it up. "McCrae." I said.

"Hey its me." Logan said.

"Hey man, what's up?" I said, sitting back in my chair.

"So, I was thinking…what if you guys came in on Thursday and we ordered take out and just relaxed. Just the six of us, before everything gets stressful." He said.

"That's actually not a bad idea. You talk to Steph and Finn?"

"Yeah they're on board." He said.

"I can talk to Rory and see if she can be ready. I think she has a meeting with her publisher that morning." I said.

"Who'd she get?" Logan asked.

"Truncheon. Her friend is one of the owners." I said. Logan didn't like Jess, so I wasn't going to tell him.

"That's cool. I'm glad that she's going through with it." He said.

"Yeah me too." I said.

That night when I got to Rory's she was asleep on the couch. I sat the bag of Chinese food that I had brought on the coffee table and opened the bag. She started to wake up when she started to smell it. "Oh, good I wasn't dreaming about Chinese food then." She said, sitting up.

"Nope." I said sitting on the couch beside her and kissing her cheek.

"How was your day?" She asked.

"Not bad. Logan called. Wants to know if we wanna come in on Thursday and all of us relax before everything gets stressful."

"Sure, that sounds really nice. All of us together." She said.

"Alright. I'll call him tomorrow and let him know." I said.

I started pulling the food containers out of the bag and setting them on the table. "Hey Col?" She said, causing me to look at her. "Do you ever think about the future?" I raised an eyebrow at her confused. "I mean, do you ever think about our future?"

"Yeah I've thought about it some. I just don't want to push you into anything. That's why I haven't brought Hartford back up. I don't want you to end up having any regrets." I said, and she nodded. "What brought this on?" I asked.

"Mom and I were shopping today, and I was telling her about our dinner with Logan and Odette. She asked me if I ever thought about marriage. It just made me wonder if you had." She said.

I sat back and pulled her close to me. "Hey, I want you to listen to me. You and me…we're good. Believe me, I know that things have happened fast with you and me, but I wouldn't change any of it. If you wanted to go out and get married tomorrow…I would drop everything and do it, just because I would know that it meant that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with me. But if you wanted to wait, then that would be fine with me too." I told her, hoping that this would ease her mind.

"Col…I love you." She said. It wasn't the first time that she had told me this, but there was something different about the way she said it this time.

"I love you, Rory." I said, pulling her to me as close as I could get her and kissing her. When she pulled back, she was smiling at me.

The next couple of days seemed to fly by. We were busy getting everything ready to go. When Thursday finally came, we were grateful that Jess had agreed to come meet Rory in New York. I was packing the car when she came in from her meeting. "Hey." She said, when she walked in the door.

"Hey how was your meeting?" I asked.

"It was good. Jess said everything looks good, so there's nothing for me to do until they get it all finalized." She said.

"That's good. You can take some time and relax." I said. For some reason when I said this her mood changed and she looked a little nervous. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Nothing's wrong. It's just…I've been thinking."

"What about?"

She walked over to where I was sitting and sat on my lap. I wrapped my arms around her. I loved the feeling of having her in my arms. "What if we got married before we went to London?" She said, completely shocking me. It was not what I expected her to say.

"Are you serious?" I asked. This was huge. I wanted her to be sure about what she was saying.

"Yeah. I'm sure. I've been thinking about it all week. Col, I'm the happiest when I'm with you. I hate it when we're apart. Let's get married."

"Okay." I said. I looked at my watch. "We have enough time if we hurry."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Rory POV

I couldn't believe it. Colin and I were married. We had rushed to the courthouse and gotten married. Now we were rushing to meet Steph and Finn at the airport so that we could catch our flight. When we stepped on the plane, Steph and Finn just stared at us. "Where've you guys been? I was starting to think that you guys were going to miss the flight?" Steph asked.

I looked at Colin and he nodded. "Go ahead tell 'em." He said.

I looked at Steph and smiled. "Colin and I got married." I said. I held out my hand and showed her the ring. It turned out that Colin's dad had given him his grandparents wedding rings along with his grandmother's engagement ring. It had been his Dad's hope that Colin would propose.

"Wow. Ummm…congrats you guys." Steph said. She actually sounded disappointed about it.

"Congrats you guys. This needs a celebratory drink." Finn said.

"Finn you think that everything needs a celebratory drink." Colin said, causing me to hit him in his chest.

A little while later, Steph and I were sitting alone, and I couldn't take the silence any longer. "What's wrong?" I asked as the flight attendant brought us martinis. I took a drink of my martini.

"I knew that you had been thinking about marrying Colin, I just thought that when you guys got married that I'd…be there." Steph said.

And that's when it hit. I had made my best friend mad at me. "Oh, Steph." I said sitting my drink down. I turned and looked at Steph. "Steph, I am so sorry. I wanted you there so bad. It was just kind of a spur of the moment kind of thing. I walked into Colin's apartment after my meeting with Jess, and just kind of…sort of…asked Colin if he wanted to get married before we left for London."

"Wow." Steph said.

"Yeah, so we rushed over to the courthouse. Please believe me, I really wanted you there." I told her.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay good. Umm…here's a thought. Have you guys thought about how you guys are gonna tell Logan, the weekend that he's getting married…that you married his best friend just minutes before flying halfway across the world for _his_ wedding." Steph said.

She had a point. It was something that I had not thought of. "I…I don't know. I didn't think about that." I said. _Granted, Logan had gotten used to me and Colin, but I think that this might hurt more than when he found out that we were dating. I needed to think on this. There had to be a way to tell Logan. Maybe I could talk to him in private and tell him. Maybe I could explain that we didn't do it to hurt him. It would be better coming from me, right?_

When we got to London, Colin had a car waiting for us. We had decided that when we got to Logan's apartment that I would talk to him in private. Colin's dad would be at the wedding and he wanted to be able to tell him that we had gotten married. When we arrived at Logan's apartment, I suddenly felt nervous. Finn knocked on the door. Logan answered. "Come on in you guys. Odette's running late. Final dress fitting." He said. He looked at me. "Ror, you okay?" He said.

"Huh? Yeah…um can I talk to you…alone?" I said.

"Yeah sure. Balcony?" He said. I handed Colin my purse and followed Logan out to the balcony. "What's on your mind?" He asked.

"Okay now before you say anything to what I'm about to say I want you to listen to everything that I say, okay?" Logan nodded. "Okay, now I'm telling you this now because it just happened right before we left New York. It wasn't planned, it was just spur of the moment." I said. I was really nervous. I guess he sensed it.

"Rory, what's going on?"

"I had a meeting with my publisher this morning and when I got done, I was in a really good mood. So, when I left my publisher, I headed over to Colin's apartment so that we could head to the airport together. When I got there, I did something completely out of character for me." I said, as I was now pacing back and forth. "Do you remember how spur of the moment I decided that we should steal that yacht?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Don't tell me you stole another yacht?" He said, jokingly.

"Not quite. Colin and I got married!" I said, just blurting it out.

"I'm sorry what?" He asked.

"I was in such a good mood when I got back from my meeting that I told Colin that we should get married. So, we went to the courthouse and got married before heading to the airport." I said.

"Wow." Logan said.

"Can you say something besides that, please?" I asked looking at him confused.

"I don't know. I mean, when Colin told me that you guys were dating. It hurt. And then the last few weeks we've all been getting along, and you guys looked so happy together…I've never seen you that happy…ever. In the beginning, I wondered how I would feel if this ever happened…"

"And?"

"I didn't expect it to be like this." Logan said. "Your happy right?" He asked me.

"Very happy." I said.

He stepped towards me and hugged me. "Then Congratulations Rory." Logan said.

I pulled back and looked at him. "You mean it?" I asked him.

"Yeah." He said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, let's get you some coffee."

Colin POV

I stood there in Logan's living room and watched them on the balcony. "What's going on?" Finn asked me.

"Rory's telling Logan that we got married." I said. She was now pacing back and forth. She's nervous.

"How do you think that he's going to react?" Steph asked, joining me and Finn where we stood.

"I think that we're about to find out." I said, when Rory stopped pacing. Logan stepped toward her and hugged her. "Wow. I didn't see that coming." I said, as we heard Logan's front door open and close.

"See what coming?" Odette said, joining us. "What's going on?" She asked, looking at the balcony.

"Rory and I got married this morning." I told her.

"Oh Colin, that's wonderful. How'd Logan take it?" She said.

I pointed to the balcony. "That's what we're watching." Finn said.

It was another few minutes before they came inside. Rory walked over to Odette and hugged her. Logan stopped in front of me. He held his hand out. "Congrats man." He said. I shook his hand.

"Thanks man. It means a lot. Really." I said.

"No, I awe you an apology. I've realized these past few weeks that you and Rory are meant for each other. I've seen how much you guys are in love." Logan said, before walking off to the kitchen to make coffee.

Rory POV

Logan, Colin and Finn had gone to the kitchen and I was standing with Steph and Odette. Odette wanted to see my ring. "How did Colin ask you?" Odette asked.

Steph laughed. "Actually, I asked him." I told her.

"You're kidding." Odette said.

The three of us laughed. "Nope. I came home from a meeting with my publisher and I was in a really good mood and I just blurted out that we should get married. So that's what we did and here we are." I told her.

"Wow. That's amazing." She said.

A few minutes later, the guys came out of the kitchen and Colin brought me a cup of coffee. "Thanks, hon." I said.

"You're welcome." He said as we all made our way to sit down.

"Okay, so I have to know, how did Shira react to your last-minute addition to the guest list?" I asked Logan and Odette.

Logan laughed, and Odette hit him in his chest. "She went ballistic. She said that it was inappropriate for me to add a guest that late. She was really upset when she had to rearrange the seating chart." Odette said.

I took a drink of my coffee. "I wish that I could have seen that." I said.

"It took everything that I had not to laugh, when it happened." She said.

"So, moving on." Colin said. "Rory and I are moving to Hartford."

"Hartford? You hate Hartford." Logan said.

"Yeah man. What gives?" Finn asked.

Colin let out a sigh. "My father wants me to take over the firm in Hartford. He's retiring." Colin said.

"Wow." Logan said. "That's big."

"Yeah so, anybody that can come help us pack up Rory's apartment…"

"What he means is that we would greatly appreciate any help in getting my apartment packed up." I said.

"But kitten, we just moved you into that apartment." Finn said.

"Finn, that was almost a year ago." I said.

"Ok fine. I'm in Boston for the next two weeks then I'm back in New York." Finn said.

"I'm available." Steph said. "When we get back, I'm in New York for the next week and then I'm off to Rome for fashion week."

"Do I even want to know?" I asked her.

"Probably not." She said.

"Okay then." I said and we both laughed.

"Okay next…who's hungry?"

Logan had completely surprised me with his reaction to me and Colin getting married. The rest of the night was completely relaxed. I needed to talk to Mom. Everyone was getting drinks when I decided to take a step outside. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my contacts until I found my mom's number. "Hello?" Mom said.

"Hey Mom, it's me." I said.

"Hey kid. How's it going across the pond?" She said.

"It's good Mom. Umm…I have something I need to tell you."

"Okay what?"

"Are you sitting down?" I asked.

"Okay, I'm sitting down. Rory, what's going on?"

"Okay. DO you remember the little spur of a moment decision you made when you and Dad got married in Paris?"

"Yes…Rory…what did you do?"

"After my meeting with Jess this morning, I was in a really good mood."

"That's always a plus." Mom said.

"Yeah, well I went by Colin's after my meeting so that we could head to the airport together. Well because of our conversation the other day and a conversation that Colin and I had…"

"Rory get to the point."

"Colin and I got married before we flew out here." Mom did say anything. "Mom?"

"Wow, kid…Ummm…I don't know what to say except that I officially know what you felt like when your dad and I got married."

"I'm sorry Mom. It's just Colin and I had been talking about it earlier in the week and I was in such a good mood." I said.

"No kid…I get it. I do. How about this? When you guys get back…we'll throw a huge party." Mom said.

"Sounds good. I'll talk to you when we get back Mom." I said and hung up. I slipped my phone into my back pocket. I stood there and just took in the view. I had almost forgotten how incredible the view was. I heard the balcony door open. I didn't move from my spot. I felt two arms wrap around my waist. As soon I felt Colin's arms around my waist, I felt myself completely relax. "Hey you." I said, as I leaned my head back and laid it against his chest.

"Nice talk with your Mom?" He asked.

"How did you know?" I asked him.

"Rory, babe, you talk to your Mom every day. We went and got married before getting on a plane to fly halfway across the world. The only thing that I know that you didn't do was call her before we got on the plane." Colin said.

"You know me all too well." I said.

"Yeah well I am married to you."

"Yes, you are Mr. McCrae."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hey guys. Hope that your enjoying the story. Here's Chapter 7. Read, Review and Favorite…please.

Chapter 7

Rory POV

The next morning, all of the girls headed to the spa. We were spending the day getting all pampered for the rehearsal dinner. Steph and I were currently getting our nails done while Odette was getting her hair done.

"Now, do you want to tell me what's really going on?" Steph asked.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

"Well, you're my best friend and I've known Colin as long as I've known Logan. So, again what's really going on?"

"Don't tell Colin that I told you." I said, and she nodded. "Colin's Dad is sick. He called Colin last week and said that he needed Colin back in Hartford. I don't know all the details but its kind of freaked Colin out."

"Oh wow." Steph said.

"Yeah I know. So, he asked me if I would go with him." I told Steph. "But on a side note my book is finished." I said with a smile.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Steph asked.

"Hey what's going on?" Odette asked as she approached us.

"Rory's book is done." Steph told her.

"That's awesome. Coffee?" Odette asked.

"Absolutely." I said.

The three of us headed to Spa's café. We had just sat at a table when I noticed Honor was walking toward us with Shira. "Oh no." I said.

"What?" Odette and Steph both said at the same time.

They both turned to see what I was looking at. They saw what I saw right as they got to our table. "Odette, dear, how are you?" Shira said.

"I'm good, Shira. Just spending the day getting pampered with my friends." She said, acknowledging me and Steph.

They turned and looked at me and Steph. "Rory, it's so good to see you." Honor said.

"It's good to see you too." I told her. _I hadn't seen or talked to her since Logan and I had had dinner with her and Josh, a year and a half ago._ "Shira." I said.

"Rory, this is a surprise." Shira said. "I had no idea that you knew Odette."

"Oh yes. Logan introduced us a while back." I said.

"Why would he do that?" Shira asked.

"Because of Colin."

"What does Colin have to do with anything?"

"You'll find out soon enough." I said, right as my cell rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. I saw that Colin was calling. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take this." I said, making my way outside to answer it. "Hi honey." I said.

"You sound miserable." Colin said.

"I wasn't until I got spotted by Shira." I said.

"Oh…well how did that go?"

"Oh, you know…Shira was Shira. She made comments about me and Odette being friends. It ended up being quite funny when she found out that Logan had introduced us because of you. So, I'm pretty sure that in her head she's going over the various scenarios of why. How's your day?"

"It's going…" Colin said. "Dad wants to have lunch with us. Can you swing it?"

"Yeah. Just text me the details." I told him.

"Alright. I'll see you in a bit. I love you." He said.

"I love you too." I said and hung up. I made my way back inside. Shira and Honor were gone. I sat back down for a minute. "Hey guys. Sorry about that. Listen, I hate to do this…but I have to go meet Colin." I said.

"Is everything okay?" Odette asked.

"It will be. I'll see you guys later." I said grabbing my stuff and leaving. I made my way back to the hotel to change clothes before I headed to the restaurant to meet Colin and his Dad for lunch. When I got to the restaurant, it didn't take me long to find them. Colin gave me a quick kiss before I sat down.

"I ordered you a glass of wine." Colin said.

"Sounds good." I said. "Mr. McCrae, it's good to see you."

"Rory, I've told you, please call me Andrew…and it's lovely to see you as well. Colin said that the two of you have some news." He said.

I looked at Colin. "You want to tell him?" I asked Colin.

He nodded. I laid my hand on his knee. "Dad, um… Rory and I talked about Hartford and I'll do it." Colin said.

"I'm glad. I know that you really didn't want to, but it means a lot to me." Andrew said.

"There's more." Colin said. Andrew nodded. "Before Rory and I got on the plane we went to the courthouse. We got married." Colin said.

"That wonderful. Congratulations." Andrew said.

"Thanks Dad. We know that we really should have had a big society wedding, but we didn't want it. But we have talked about having a party when we get back to celebrate." Colin told him.

"That sounds wonderful. I'm sure that Alexis would love to offer any help." Andrew said. _Alexis was Colin's sister._

"I'll give her a call when we get back." I said, taking a drink of my wine. "Now, enough about us. How are you?" I said.

"I have to take it day by day. Rory, your father took over the family firm when your grandfather passed didn't, he?" Andrew said.

"Yes, he did." I said, unsure of where this was headed.

Andrew let out a sigh. "Do you think that he would be open to negotiations of a merger?" Andrew asked.

Colin POV

 _What?_ "A merger? You can't be serious, Dad?" I asked.

"I'm completely serious. It's something that I've been thinking about for a while. However, I was waiting until the two of you were married. Colin, the two of you have just joined three families in Hartford. That's a big deal. Now, we need to stabilize the business side of it." Dad said.

I looked at Rory. "Col, he's right. I mean, I know that I'm not a big name in society, but my family names are. Grandpa left me the Gilmore Group. Granted that I don't actually run it, but I still own it." Rory said, and I nodded.

"Yeah your right." I said.

On the way back to the hotel, I couldn't help but think about everything that Dad had said. He wanted to merge two of the biggest Law firms on the east coast. When Rory and I got back to the hotel, we had to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. I was wearing a polo shirt with a vest and khakis and Rory was wearing a silver fitted dress with thin straps and silver heels. I kissed her cheek. "You look beautiful babe." I said.

"Thank you honey." She said as she walked over to the mirror that was hanging above the dresser. She was putting on the necklace and earrings that I had bought her for our six-month anniversary. "Are you about ready to go?" She asked.

"Yeah. Finn said that he wanted to ride with us." I told her.

"Okay. Why don't you go check on him and I'll meet ya'll downstairs?" She said.

"Sounds good babe." I said. I headed out the room towards Finn's room.

Rory POV

When Colin, Finn and I walked into the church it didn't take long for Shira and Mitchum to spot me. I could see that Logan and Odette were trying to stop them from making a scene. I decided to walk over and say hello. "Sorry we're late." I told Logan and Odette.

"It's okay. My parents are late as well." Odette said.

"Mitchum, Shira." I said.

"Hello Rory. It's quite a surprise to see you here." Mitchum said.

I looked out the corner of my eye and saw Logan nod. "Well, to be honest, I'm glad that I could be here with my husband to see Logan and Odette get married."

I saw Shira's eyes widen. "Your husband?" She asked.

I smiled. I pointed to Colin where he was standing with Finn and Robert talking. "Yes, my husband…Colin." I said.

"Well then, I guess congratulations." Shira said.

"That's sweet even though I know that you don't mean it. However, I will say this. I am here, to support Logan and Odette, who are my friends." I said, before turning and walking back to the guys where Steph had now joined.

"That looked entertaining." Steph said.

"Oh, it was. Needless to say, I think that I stunned Shira."

"Ooh, please tell me that you told her about you and Colin." Steph said.

We both turned to look at Shira and Mitchum. They were in a heated discussion in the corner. "Absolutely. The only thing that would make this better, was if I had a drink." I said.

"Soon." Odette said approaching us. The three of us laughed.

About ten minutes later, Odette's parents arrived, and they got the rehearsal started. After the rehearsal, everyone met at a restaurant that Mitchum owned. I was sitting at a table drinking my martini when I noticed someone sit down across from me. "Hi." They said.

"Hi." I said smiling.

"So, you and Colin?"

"Yep, me and Colin. How are you Honor?" I asked.

"I'm good, Rory. What're you doing here?" She asked.

I took a drink of my Martini. "Logan introduced me and Odette not long after me and Colin got together, and we've been friends ever since. Odette invited me."

"She did?" Honor asked.

"She did. We became fast friends. I've been writing a book, and I had a meeting with my publisher the other day and I was in such a good mood that I told Colin that we should get married before we got on the plane."

"Spontaneous." Honor said.

"Very. So, we did." I told her.

"Wow. You jumped." She said.

I laughed at the words. "Yeah I did."

"How did Logan react when you told him?"

"He asked me if I was happy and then hugged me." I said, finishing my martini.

"And are you?"

"Very. You know that I really loved him once upon a time, right?" I asked Honor as a waiter brought me another Martini.

She nodded, taking a drink of her own. "I do. I guess I just kind of miss hanging out with you." Honor said.

"Honor, we can still hang out. Maybe you could start joining me and Steph for girl's night." I said, right as I noticed Colin come over.

"I'd love to. I need to go find Josh." She said, getting up and walking away. Colin sat down where Honor had just been. "Hi, honey. Are you okay? You look tired." I said.

"Yeah, listen I hate to do this, but I gotta go check on Dad." He said.

"It's fine, go. I'll stay. Do you want me to explain to Logan and Odette what's going on?" I asked.

"Yeah. See if you can get everyone together at Logan's and tell 'em for me." He said. I nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too. I'll see you back at the hotel." I said.

I had managed to corner Logan and Odette and we all agreed to meet at their apartment in an hour. I told them that I was headed out. Logan said that he'd call me a cab, but I told him that I wanted to walk. I enjoyed walking in London at night. I had always thought that it was magical. And he knew this.

 _I wanted to enjoy the time that I had here in London. Things were going to be busy and different when we got back to the states. Who knew how long it would be before we'd be able to come back._ I was walking down the street when my cell started ringing. I pulled it out of my clutch. It was Dad. I answered. "Hi Dad." I said.

"You got married?" He said.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay here's chapter 8. It's a little shorter. It's also sad. Sorry. Read, Review and Favorite.

Playlist: Neon Church by Tim McGraw; Every little thing by Carly Pierce

Chapter 8

Rory POV

"Hi Dad." I said.

"You got married?" He said.

I let out a sigh. "Yes Dad, I did." I told him.

"To who?" He asked.

"Colin McCrae." I said, stopping at a coffee shop and getting a coffee before heading to Logan's.

"Andrew McCrae's son?" He asked.

"Yes Dad." I grabbed my coffee from the barista and walked out of the coffee shop. I started walking toward Logan's apartment. "Is there a problem?" I asked him.

"No, no problem." He said, hesitating a little. "Where are you?"

"I'm in London. Logan's getting married." I said.

"You're in London with your husband for your ex-boyfriend's wedding."

"Yes. Don't forget the part where I'm friends with his fiancé." I said. I turned the corner where Logan's building was.

"Kiddo, are you okay?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, just stressed. Can we have lunch when I get back. I need to talk to you about something?"

"Sure thing. You're not pregnant, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I'll talk to you when I get back." I said and hung up.

I stood outside Logan's building while I drank my coffee. I wasn't ready to go up yet. This was a heavy conversation that I had to have with our friends, and I had to do it alone. Colin was stressed with everything that was going on with Andrew. Alexis had tried to help but Colin told her that she was just too emotional about it all. I tried to do what I could to help…apparently this was it.

I finished my coffee before making my way upstairs to Logan's apartment. When I got to the front door, I knocked. Odette answered. "Come in, are you okay?" She asked.

"I don't know. Tired and stressed, I think? Can I have some coffee?" I asked.

She nodded. "Of course. Is Colin coming?"

"No, he's taking care of…family stuff." I said.

A little while later, we were all seated in the living room (A/N: Rory, Logan, Odette, Steph, Finn and Robert), Odette had fixed coffee for everyone.

"Okay Ror, we're all here." Logan said.

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. "Okay, I know that everyone has noticed that Colin has been stressed out more than usual." I said, and everyone nodded. "The real reason that we're moving to Hartford, isn't because his Dad is retiring. His Dad is sick. It happened about three months ago. He's been seeing doctors all over the world. He keeps hoping for different treatment." I told them.

"What's wrong with him?" Odette asked.

"Pancreatic cancer." I said.

Steph and Odette let out a gasp. "Why didn't he tell us, kitten?" Finn asked me.

I turned to look at him. "I'm really not sure. So instead of moving into the condo, we're going to stay at the house with him." I told them. I looked at Logan who hadn't said anything. "Logan?"

"I've known Colin my entire life. I hate that he feels that he couldn't come to me." Logan said.

"Logan, you know how Colin is. He tries to handle everything himself. He wanted to tell you he did. He just…he's been having a hard time processing this." I said.

"I need a drink." Logan said.

Colin POV

When I got to my Dad's hotel, I let myself in. He was sitting in a chair. I walked over and sat on the couch. "Dad." I said.

"Hello son." he said.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Tired. Where's Rory?"

"She's having drinks with our friends. At least this way, we weren't being completely rude." I said, and Dad nodded. "Maybe we should get you to the hospital. Your due for a round of fluids." I said.

He nodded, and half smiled at me. "Yes, your right."

"I'm calling the car." I made a phone call. When I got Dad to the hospital, they immediately got him into the back. They got an IV started with fluids. We were sitting there waiting, when the doctor came in. By this time, Dad had fallen asleep.

The doctor walked over to me. "Mr. McCrae?" He said quietly.

"Yes?" I said, standing up.

He motioned for me to follow him out to the hallway. "Are you aware that your father's cancer has spread?" The doctor asked.

"My wife and I had a feeling, but we weren't sure. I haven't spoken to his oncologist back home." I said.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but at this point…the only thing that we can do is make your father comfortable. I'm sorry, but it's only a matter of time."

I nodded. Rory and I had a feeling that he was getting worse. "How long?" I asked.

"A day…maybe two." He said.

"Thank you, doctor. I need to call my wife." I said and made my way outside to the front of the hospital to call Rory. I pulled my phone out and called her. "Ror?" I said when she answered. "I need you."

Rory POV

Logan, Odette and I were sitting there drinking a glass of scotch when my phone rang. It was Colin. I quickly answered. Something was wrong I could feel it. "Ror? I need you." He said when I answered.

"Col? What's wrong?" I said.

"We're at the hospital. I need you to come." He said.

I felt a tear fall down my face. "I'm on my way." I said and hung up. I looked up at Logan. "I have to go."

"What's happened?" He asked.

"It's Colin's Dad, they're at the hospital." I told them.

"We're coming with you." Odette said.

"No, you guys are getting married tomorrow afternoon. You need your rest." I said.

"We're coming with you." She said again. "I'm not letting you guys go through this alone."

I nodded. "Okay, let's go." I said. The three of us got up and ran out the door.

When we got to the hospital, I stopped at the nurse's desk. "Hi, I'm looking for my father-in-law. Andrew McCrae." I said.

She typed on her computer for a minute. "Room 313." She said.

We took off down the hallway. I stopped in the doorway. We were too late. Colin was sitting in a chair, with his head in his hands. I handed Odette my purse. I walked over to Colin and put my hand on his shoulder. "Col?" I said, quietly.

He stood up and wrapped his arms around me. "He's gone." He said, starting to cry.

"I know honey." I said. I wrapped my arms around his back and started rubbing it. "We'll get through it." I told him.

"I can't believe he's gone."

"I know. Come on, let's get out of here. I'll take care of everything in the morning." I told him, and he nodded.

He let go of me and looked up, noticing Logan and Odette. We walked over to them. Logan hugged him. "What are you doing here? You're getting married tomorrow." Colin asked.

"I'm your best friend. I'm not letting you go through this alone." Logan told him.

"Thanks man." Col said.

"Let's go get a drink." Logan said, and Colin nodded.

We headed to a nearby bar. Colin was officially depressed, but who could blame him. His father had just died. In addition to Logan's wedding, we now had a funeral to plan. I needed to call Alexis. She would be crushed. She had struggled with Andrew's illness anyway…but this would completely crush her. After a few drinks, Logan helped me get Colin back to the hotel. Once Logan left and I got Colin in bed, I stepped out on the balcony and I called Alexis. "Hello?" She answered, still asleep.

"Alex? It's Rory." I said.

"Ror, is everything okay?"

"Not really sweetie." I said, sitting on a chair that was on the balcony. "I have some bad news."

"Daddy?" She asked, causing me to tear up.

"Yeah." I said. I could hear her crying.

"Is there anything I need to do?" She asked.

"Not right now. I have things to handle over here. I'll let you know where we're heading home and we can all meet at the house. Okay?" I said.

"Okay. I'll talk to you soon."

When I hung up with Alexis, I sat on the balcony for a while. I made a mental list of everything that needed to be done. There was a lot that had to be done, and that was just here. There would be even more when we got home. I was hoping that Steph and Mom wouldn't mind helping me with everything, cause Colin and Alexis were in no shape for any of it.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Colin POV

The next morning when I woke up, I felt like I had been hit by a train. I looked for Rory and I didn't see her. I sat up in the bed and looked at the bedside table. There was a glass of water and some aspirin, along with a note. I picked up the note to read it.

 _'Col -_

 _I love you. I've gone to the hospital to start making arrangements. I'll be back in time to get ready for the wedding. Take the aspirin and drink the water. And don't worry I called Alexis. See you later._

 _\- R'_

 _God, I loved that woman. She was amazing. She was taking care of everything. She had even called my sister and told her about my Dad. I drank the water and took the aspirin. I decided to take a shower, hoping that it would help feel a little better. When I came out of the bathroom, Rory was sitting at the little kitchenette table, drinking a cup of coffee and on her phone._

"No, that's not acceptable. I want black roses, or I'll take my business elsewhere." She said. "Thank you. That'll be fine." She said. She was obviously on the phone with the florist. She was planning my father's funeral halfway across the world. "Thank you, I'll be in touch." She said hanging up after another five minutes. She sat her phone on the table and looked over at me. "Hi honey. Did you get any sleep?" She said.

"Yeah, I did, but only because of the liquor last night." I said, pouring myself a cup of coffee, before walking over and joining her. "You've been busy." I said.

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep so I decided to get started on everything. Alexis is going to meet us at your father's house Monday afternoon." She said.

"Why Monday?" I asked.

"Because that's when I'm flying home. You have to be back tomorrow. You have court Monday." She said.

"Have I told you lately how incredible you are?" I said, reaching across the table and grabbing her hand. "I love you so much."

"Col, I love you too. When we found out about your Dad's cancer, I told you that I would help you with anything. Now, I have to get take a shower and start getting ready. Steph and I are meeting for drinks downstairs before we head to the church." She said.

Rory POV

After taking a shower and getting dressed, I walked into the living room of our hotel suite and poured myself another cup of coffee. Colin had already headed to the church with Finn to meet up with Logan and Josh. Steph and I were meeting downstairs in the hotel bar before we headed over to the church. I had just walked in and sat next to her at the bar. We ordered our drinks. "How's Colin?" She asked me.

"Okay, I think. I mean, we knew that this was coming. He was surprised this morning when I told him that I had everything worked out." I told her.

"Look at you." She said. "First a spur of the moment wedding and now planning a funeral halfway across the world…what's next?"

"World domination?" I said, sarcastically. We both laughed. Steph and I had a few drinks before we headed over to the church. When we walked in, we immediately found our seats.

The ceremony was beautiful. Of course, you could tell it was exactly what would be expected for a society wedding…even if it was halfway across the world. Odette's dress had been gorgeous. It was straight out of a fairy tale. While I watched the ceremony, I played with my wedding ring on my finger and I thought about the day that Colin and I got married.

***FLASHBACK***

 _Colin and I were waiting for the judge to come in. After a few minutes he walked in. "Now are the two of you sure about this? You know that marriage isn't something to be entered into lightly." The judge said._

 _"We know. We're sure." Colin said, and I smiled at him._

 _"Okay. Then we'll proceed." He said. "Do you have rings?" He asked._

 _Colin pulled our rings out of his pocket. "Yes." Colin said handing them to the judge._

 _"Great." The judge said. "Do you Colin Andrew McCrae, take Lorelai Leigh Gilmore to be your wife?"_

 _I stared into Colin's eyes. "I do." Colin said. The judge handed him a ring and he placed it on my hand with the matching engagement ring._

 _"Do you Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, take Colin Andrew McCrae to be your husband?"_

 _"I do." I said, and he handed me a ring to place on Colin's hand._

 _"Now by the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife._

 _***END FLASHBACK***_

I felt a tear fall down my face. I looked up and realized that I had zoned out and the ceremony was ending. I turned to Steph. "Are you okay?" She asked me.

I wiped the tears from my face, "You know, weddings. Plus, I might have zoned out and thought about when Col and I got married." I said.

She pulled me into a hug. "There's something about weddings." She said.

"Can we go get a drink now?" I asked.

"Absolutely. Let's go find the guys." She said, and we headed off to find Colin and Finn.

We made our way outside to where we found Colin and Finn. I kissed Colin. "You okay?" He asked when I pulled back.

"I'm fine." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Promise. I need a drink though."

"Alright let's go." He said.

When we got to the reception hall, he said that he saw someone that he needed to talk to. I told him to go, that I'd see him at the table. I found the bar and ordered a martini. "You clean up well, Miss Gilmore." A familiar voice said.

"It's Mrs. McCrae, actually." I said, turning to see the owner of the voice. "Tristan?"

"Hi, Rory." He said, as the bartender handed me my Martini. Tristan ordered himself a scotch.

I took a drink of my Martini. "How are you?" I asked.

"Good. And you? I see your married."

"Yeah, it's new. Spur of the moment." I said. I couldn't believe that Tristan was standing in front of me.

"Marriage was spur of the moment?" He asked.

"It was for me. I was having a good day, came home and told my boyfriend that we should get married." I said, drinking my martini.

"Ah. Well it was good to see you. I should go congratulate my cousin." He said.

"Logan's your cousin?"

"Yep. See you around." He said.

I don't know what it was but there was something about the way that Tristan told me that he'd see me around that sent chills down my spine. It made me feel like I was sixteen again. I watched Tristan walk away from me and I just shook my head. I turned back to the bar, I finished my Martini before ordering another. When I had my second Martini, I made my way to the table. There was only one problem…Shira Huntzberger. I was crossing the room to our table, when Shira stopped me. "Hello Rory." She said.

"Shira." I said, taking a drink of my Martini.

"I was hoping that we could chat." She said.

I put on my best society smile. "What about?" I asked, taking a drink.

"Why are you really here?" She asked me.

"I told you last night, but I will let you in on a little secret." I said, moving closer to her.

"Do tell." She said.

"Do you remember how you said that I wasn't suited to marry into the Huntzberger family?" I said, and she nodded. "Well, here's what you missed. I'm the double heiress." I told her.

"What? What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Well, you know about the Gilmore side of my family. But what you didn't know is about my father's side of the family."

"Who's your father's family?"

"Straub and Francine Hayden." I said, taking a drink of my martini.

"Your father is Christopher Hayden?" She asked me.

"Yes, he is. You should ask Logan about him. He met him when we were in college. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to check on my husband." I said and walked around her. I made my way to the table and sat beside Colin. I handed him the glass of scotch that I had for him.

"Thanks, babe. What was that about?" Colin asked.

"I'm really not sure. I think…that Shira thinks that I have some ulterior motive for being here. But I really just shocked her." I said.

"How's that?"

"I clued her in about my father's family."

"Ah. So basically, she's going to be kicking herself for treating you so shitty all those years ago." Colin said.

"Exactly. How are you feeling, honey?"

"Ror, I'm okay. It's not as bad as I thought it was going to be." He said to me. The band started to play. "Dance with me." He said, taking my hand.

"I'd love to." I said.

He led me over to the dance floor. We started dancing to the music with the other couples. "You know, technically this is our first dance." He said.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Honey, we're only dancers when we have to be." I said. "But…your right. Technically this is our first dance as husband and wife." I said, laying my head on Colin's chest.

Colin and I stood there and danced for a while. "I've been thinking." He said, after a while.

I looked up at him. "About what?"

"After this next court case…I don't want to practice anymore. I just want to run the firm. I want to delegate the cases and be more of a consultant." He said.

I couldn't believe it. "Are you serious?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, I wanna be able to spend more time with you. Maybe start a family. Travel." He said. "You've got your book coming out. I want to be able to travel with you on the book tour."

"If there's a book tour."

"There will be."

"As long you're sure that this is what you want." I said.

"It is."

"Okay then." I said.

Colin and I danced a little longer before making our way back to the table where all of our friends were waiting for us. The rest of the night involved speeches, drinks, cake and celebrating Logan and Odette. Before Logan and Odette left, he pulled me aside. "I wanted to talk to you before we left." He said.

"Ok, what's on your mind?" I said, as we walked over to the bar.

"Why didn't you tell me that you knew my cousin?" He asked me.

The bartender hand me another Martini. "Because, until earlier this evening, I didn't know that I knew your cousin." I said.

"Your Mary." He said.

"God! Please don't start that. I've always hated that nickname." I said, taking a drink of my Martini.

"So, it's true."

I looked at Logan in confusion. "What's true?" I asked him.

The bartender handed him a scotch. "Tristan used to talk about this girl from his high school. He would ask her out and she would say no. So then one day he said that they kissed at a party. Two months later, he called me and said he didn't know what to do. He said that he had fallen in love with, but she had no idea because he couldn't tell her." Logan said.

"Logan, what are you saying? That your cousin, Tristan…Bible boy… Spawn of Satan… has actually been in love with me for fifteen years." I said.

He nodded. "Yes." He said.

"What am I supposed to do with this information? Have you forgotten that I'm married to your best friend?" I said, finishing my martini, just in time for the bartender to hand me another one.

"Do what you will with the information. I'm just laying it out there." He said.

"Your terrible." I said.

"I know. I gotta go, but we'll see you in Hartford next week for the funeral." He said.

"Thanks. It means a lot to him that you guys are postponing your honeymoon for the funeral." I told Logan as he started to walk away.

"Yeah, well, like you said…he's my best friend."

Tristan POV

"See you around." I said to Rory, turning and walking away from her. _I saw Logan standing across the room talking to one of his idiotic college friends. Logan hadn't been good enough for Rory when he dated her…now one of his friends had gone and married her._

I made my way across the room to where Logan was. "Congrats cuz." I said.

"Thanks man. I didn't realize that you knew Rory." He said, causing his friend to join our conversation when he said her name.

"Yeah, we've known each other a long time. We went to high school together." I said, hoping that it would click in his mind.

After a minute, I saw the light bulb light up. "You don't mean…Rory is Mary?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Yep. Just like I also know that she's your ex-girlfriend Ace." I told him.

"How did you know? I never told you her name."

"Because, I know her so well that all you had to do was describe her to me. The first time you told me that she was addicted to coffee and always had her nose in a book…I knew it was her." I said.

A/N: Okay so that's chapter 9. I hope that you guys enjoyed it. Next chapter there's going to be a time jump. Read, Review and favorite.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rory POV

It's been six months since Logan's wedding. After Andrew's funeral, Colin and I focused on moving to Hartford. We packed up my apartment and everything that wasn't needed went into storage. Once things had settled down after the funeral Colin and I had met with my Dad about the possibility of a merger. Dad and Colin spent a lot of time talking about the merger. They had decided to merge the two firms. Colin would run the Hartford firm, Dad would run the Boston firm, and they would hire someone to run the New York firm.

It was girls' night. Steph, Honor and I were meeting at Rich Man's Shoe because the location worked for the three of us. I was in the bedroom getting ready when I heard Colin come in. "Hi babe." I said, as I slipped my shoes on.

"Hi." He said, sounding exhausted.

"You okay?" I asked him.

He sat on the bed. "Yeah, just a long day. You dad's in town tomorrow. He wants to have dinner." Colin said.

"Sounds good honey." I said, looking at the clock. "I gotta go. Why don't you call Finn?" I said, kissing his cheek. When I got to Rich Man's Shoe, I immediately found the girls. I ran over and joined them. "Hey, sorry I'm late." I said.

"Your never late." Steph said.

"I know. It's been one of those days." I said, taking a drink of my martini that no doubt Steph had ordered for me.

"Anything interesting happen?" Steph asked.

"Not really. Jess called though. It looks like there might be a book tour in the works. If not then definitely a signing in New York." I told them.

"That's awesome Ror. So, I have to ask. Are any of us in the book?" Honor asked me.

I took another drink of my Martini. "It's possible." I said with a smile. The girls and I spent the rest of the night catching up. Even though we saw each other every week, it always seemed like it had been forever since the previous meeting. When I got home, Colin was passed out.

The next night, Colin and I were getting ready for dinner with my Dad. Fortunately, dinner with my Dad was always easy. But for some reason I couldn't shake this feeling that he had something that he wanted to tell me. It made me think about the Christmas after Logan and I split up.

 _***FLASHBACK***_

 _I had been working on the campaign trail for 7 months. It was 7 long months at that. No dating. Barely seeing any of my friends or family. I was desperate and happy to be going home. Mom was spending Christmas with Luke. They had just gotten back together and had decided to spend Christmas just the two of them. I think that they wanted the time to reconnect. Dad had invited me to spend Christmas with him, Gigi, and Grandma Francine (Ever since Straub had died, we had connected. And it made Dad happy.) I pulled into the driveway at Grandma Francine's._

 _I got out of my car and made my way to the front door. When I rang the doorbell, the maid answered. "Is my grandmother home?" I asked._

 _"Yes, Miss Rory. She's in the sitting room." She answered._

 _I handed her my jacket and the proceeded to make my way to the sitting room. It was her favorite room in the entire house. "Hi Grandma." I said._

 _She looked up from her book. "Rory, hello dear. Was I expecting you?" She said._

 _"You were. You and Dad invited me for Christmas." I said, sitting on the couch across from her._

 _"Ah. Yes, Christmas. Time seems to have gotten away from me. Come sit." Grandma said._

 _I looked around. "Where's Dad?" I asked._

 _"He had an errand to run but he should be here shortly. Are you okay, dear? You seem distracted." Grandma asked me._

 _"I don't know Grandma. Do you think that I made the right decision turning down Logan's proposal?"_

 _"Oh. Well, I think that if you aren't ready for marriage…then yes you made the right decision. Are you having regrets?"_

 _"Sometimes."_

 _"Well, I tend to believe that when the right person comes along, that everything happens for a reason." Grandma said._

 _A minute later, Dad walked in. "There she is." Dad said._

 _"Dad." I said standing up to hug him._

 _"Ror, I want you to meet someone." He said, turning to the woman behind him that I hadn't noticed before. "Ror, this is Lana."_

 _"Rory, I'm so happy to meet you. Your father and Grandmother talk about you constantly." Lana said._

 _"It's…It's nice to meet you too." I said._

 _***END FLASHBACK***_

When Colin and I got to the restaurant, Dad was waiting for us. He had even ordered us drinks. "Hi Dad." I said, as he stood up and hugged me and shook Colin's hand.

"Hey kid. Colin." Dad said, as we all sat down.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"What? A dad can't just want to see his daughter and son-in-law?" Dad said.

"Yes, but I know that that's not what this is. It's the middle of the week and I know that you know that it's my busiest time of the week." I told him.

He smiled. "You got me there." Dad said. "Okay, I want you to promise me that you'll keep an open mind." I nodded. "Lana and I are getting married." He told us.

"That's great." Colin said. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." He said. He looked at me.

"Married?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Huh." I said. "I can't say that I'm surprised. I mean you and Lana have been together the longest that I've ever seen you with anyone, and that includes Mom and Sherry." I said.

"Is that your way of saying congrats?" He asked me.

I smiled. "Yeah, sorry. Congrats Dad." I said, picking up my drink and taking a drink. I was happy for Dad, I really was. It was just that I was beginning to think that he and Lana weren't going to get married. "What's Grandma say?" I asked.

I was sure that Grandma had a few thoughts about it. "She's happy. She likes Lana. She wants everyone at the house Friday for dinner. Can you two swing it?" He said.

"I can't this week. I have to go to Rome for an article that I'm writing on the Vatican." I told him.

Colin looked at me. "When did that happen?" He asked me.

"Today. Mark called me. He doesn't have anyone else." I told him. I had cut back on my freelance articles because I had been helping out with the merger and over at The Gilmore Group.

Colin nodded. "It's fine. When do you leave?" He asked.

"Friday morning. My plane leaves at 6." I told him.

"I didn't cause anything did I?" Dad asked.

I shook my head as I finished my martini. "No, I just hadn't had a chance to tell Colin cause we've both been busy today." I said.

The rest of the week seemed to fly by. The next thing I knew, Colin was dropping me off at the airport. I was using our family jet for my trip. The plane would take me there and then I would be there for a week. Colin wasn't exactly happy that I was going to be gone for a week. He had wanted me to be home. I had slowly started to notice that he was growing distant. Ever since the merger, Colin was working harder than he had in New York. I tried to tell myself that some of it was probably due to Andrew dying but I wasn't sure.

When I got back from Rome, I finished my article and emailed it to Mark. Once I had my article done, I decided that I wanted to have a nice dinner with Colin that night. I called the office.

"Hayden and McCrae. Andrea speaking."

"Hi Andrea, it's Rory. Is Colin busy?" I said.

"Oh. Mrs. McCrae, he's not in the office. He took a personal day." She said.

"Oh. Okay. He must've told me and I forgot. Thanks." I said and hung up.

 _Colin took a personal day? What was that about? He never took a personal day._ I pulled my laptop out and logged into our banking website. I wanted to see if he had used our credit card today. I was shocked when I saw that there was a charge for a hotel room in London. I quickly grabbed my cell and called Odette. I couldn't call Logan. Not yet.

"Rory hey." Odette said when she answered.

"Please tell me that you've seen Colin?" I asked.

"Yeah. He got here like two days ago. He said that you were in Rome working on an article and he didn't want to be home alone? Is everything okay?" She said.

"I don't know. He's been distant lately. And then I come home and he's not here. So I call the office and his assistant tells me that he took a personal day. He didn't even tell me that he was going to London." I said.

I walked into our kitchen and grabbed the bottle of scotch out of the cabinet. I poured myself a glass. "Oh Ror. I'm so sorry. He made it seem like you knew. He even made it sound like you were coming out here when you got done." Odette said.

I let out a sigh. "I have no idea what is going on with my husband anymore."

"Do you want me to get Logan to talk to him?" She asked.

"No, I'll just talk to him when he gets back. Don't tell him I called okay?" I said.

"Okay. Are you going to be okay?" She asked. "Cause I could get on a plane."

"I'll be fine. Thanks." I said and hung up.

Colin POV = 2 days ago…

 _I have no idea what I was thinking. All I knew was that I had been sitting in the condo for 5 days…5 days by myself while Rory was in Rome working on an article. I didn't want her to go. I had wanted her to stay home with me. She was supposed to be home with me._

 _The next thing I knew, I was packing a bag and getting on a plane. The only person that would understand was Logan. When I landed in London, I went to the hotel and checked in. After a couple of hours, I found myself knocking on his apartment door. A few minutes later, Logan answered the door. "Colin?" He said. "What're you doing here?" He asked me._

 _"Hey man, can I come in?" I said._

 _He nodded and let me into his apartment. We walked into the living room. "Is everything okay man?" He asked me as I sat on the couch._

 _"Colin!" Odette said, walking out of the kitchen. "Is Rory with you?" She asked._

 _"No. She's in Rome working on an article. I just didn't want to sit at home by myself anymore. I'm not bothering you guys am I?" I asked her._

 _"No, of course not. You want some coffee?" She offered._

 _"Yeah thanks." I said. Odette headed off to the kitchen._

 _I looked over at Logan. "What's really going on?" He asked me._

 _"I'll tell you later. We can get a drink. I don't want to chance Odette calling Rory." I said and he nodded._

 _That evening, Logan and I went to a bar that he went to sometimes. We sat down and ordered our drinks. "Now, what's going on? It's not that I'm not happy to see you, its just you usually call when you come to see me." Logan said._

 _"It wasn't exactly a planned trip. Rory left for Rome 5 days ago, she's coming home in 2 days and I was sitting in my condo and I realized that I didn't want to sit and wait. I packed a bag and the next thing I knew I was on a plane headed for Heathrow." I told Logan and he nodded. "I don't know what's going on man. Ever since the merger, I spend more time in my office than I do at home. Rory's been great through the merger, I mean she even helped me and her dad when we needed it."_

 _"But?" He asked._

 _"I don't know. I feel like we're growing distant." I told him._

 _He nodded. The waitress brought our drinks and sat them on the table. "I know that feeling. I've been on the other end of that. Remember the bridesmaids? Remember Costa Rica?" He said. "If I know Rory, and I do…she's probably feeling neglected and that your hiding something from her. Your not hiding something from her are you?" He said._

 _I shook my head. "No, I'm not hiding anything. I've just been so exhausted that all I do is eat, sleep and work." I said._

 _He nodded. "How long are you staying?"_

 _I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know." I said._

Present Day…

I was on my way to the bar to meet Logan for a drink. I had been in London for two days, and I knew that today I needed to head back home. Rory was coming home today and I needed to be there. I needed to talk to her and make things right. I mean, we weren't fighting but at the same time, something wasn't right. When I walked into the bar, Logan was alone. Odette and Finn were with him.

I joined them at their table. "What's going on?" I asked. Finn was glaring at me. "What?" I asked.

"I told you not to screw this up." Finn said.

Huh? "What's with him?" I asked Logan. He didn't say anything.

"Rory called." Odette said.

I looked up at her. "What? You talked to Rory." I said.

She nodded. "Yeah. Asked if I had seen you." Odette said.

I leaned back and ran my hand through my hair. "What did she say?" I asked Odette.

"She's worried about you. She said that she has no idea what is going on with you. She didn't even know that you came out here." Odette said.

"How'd she find out?" I asked.

"Dude, your kidding right?" Logan asked. I looked at him confused. "She's a reporter. She probably check the credit card statement."

I nodded. "Of course she did." I said. "I should go. I can probably still get a flight today." They all nodded.

I headed back to the hotel to get my stuff and check-out. After checking out I headed to Heathrow and was able to get a flight back to Hartford. I was just hoping that when I got there Rory wasn't going to kick me out of the house.

Rory POV

"Hey kid. How was your trip?" Mom said when I answered my phone.

"It was okay. But then I came home to find that my husband took a personal day and went to London…two days ago." I told her.

"Seriously? And he didn't tell you?"

"Nope. It's like ever since the merger with Dad, Colin's been working more hours than he did in New York." I said.

"What are you gonna do kid?" She asked.

"I don't know…yet." I said.

I was sitting on the couch flipping through a magazine when I heard the lock on the front door. I heard the front door open and close. "Hi." I heard Colin say when he walked into the living room. I didn't say anything. He walked into the living room and sat in the chair across from me. "Ror." He said. I still didn't say anything. "Please talk to me. Don't freeze me out." Colin said.

I closed my magazine and tossed it on the couch beside me. "Now! Now you want to talk! You didn't want to talk to me when you up and decided to go to London 2 days ago. You didn't want to talk to me when I came home this morning to an empty house. Do you have any idea how humiliated I was to call the office only to find out that you had taken a personal day and I didn't know about it. It took me checking our credit card statement and getting Odette to confirm, for me to at least know that you weren't having an affair!" I said getting up and walking to the kitchen. I walked into the kitchen and fixed myself a cup of coffee.

"What do you want me to say, Ror? You've been distant lately." Colin said.

"Don't do that." I said. "You work more now than you did in New York." I told him. "Most nights I eat dinner alone and go to bed long before you ever come home. And then your gone when I get up. I feel like I have to call Andrea and schedule an appointment with you just to have a conversation with you." I told Colin taking a drink of my coffee.

He leaned against the wall. "Ror, I hate this. Everything was so much simpler before we moved to Hartford." He said.

"I agree. How do we fix this? When we were in London, you said that you wanted to cut back on your hours not the other way around."

"I'm meeting your Dad in the morning. I'm telling him that I want to hire an extra associate and an office manager so that I can start working less. Ror, I don't want us to turn into one of those couples where we're basically passing ships." He said.

I looked at my coffee cup. "Me neither." I said. I looked at the clock. I had to meet Mom at Luke's. "I have to meet Mom at Luke's for dinner. You wanna come?" I said.

Colin walked over to me and pulled me to him. "Absolutely. And after my meeting with your Dad tomorrow, you and I are going to New York for the weekend." He said.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Absolutely. No phones, no pagers, no email, no work." He said.

I smirked at him. "That's easier said than done."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- Rory POV

It's been a month since Colin and I had our big fight. He'd talked to Dad and they'd hired extra people for the Hartford office. Colin was now more of a consultant. He wasn't practicing anymore unless it was absolutely necessary. We'd spent a weekend in New York. It had been great. We ended up going skating at Rockefeller center. Things had definitely gotten better. I had quit my job and I was strictly just working at the Gilmore Group now.

I was meeting Steph in an hour for our weekly lunch when something occurred to me… what was the date? When was my last period? OMG! I could be pregnant. I grabbed my purse and I practically ran out of my office. I went by the drug store and picked up a pregnancy test (more like 5) and then I decided to swing by home and take them before meeting Steph.

After taking the pregnancy tests, I headed off to the deli to meet Steph for lunch. I couldn't tell her about the pregnancy test. There wasn't a point in me mentioning it to her until I could confirm with a doctor and tell Colin. No doubt that Steph would be excited but I needed to talk to Colin about it. We've briefly talked about kids but we haven't really talked about it.

When I got to the deli, Steph was already waiting for me. "Hey." I said, when I walked in and sat at the table.

"Hey, you okay? You look a little pale." Steph said.

I shrugged. I might actually have to tell her. Steph could read me like a book. "Haven't been feeling too good the last couple of days." I told her. It wasn't a complete lie but it wasn't the complete truth either.

"Maybe you should go see a doctor." Steph said.

"I'll add that to my to do list." I said as the waitress came over and took our order. Steph ordered a turkey and cheese sub and an iced tea while I ordered a club sandwich with fries and a coke.

When the waitress walked away, Steph stared at me. "You really aren't feeling good are you?" I shook my head. "You didn't even order coffee. You always order coffee. That time we vacationed in the Bahamas you even drank coffee then. What is up with you?"

I leaned back in my chair and sighed. "I think I'm pregnant." I said.

Steph sat back in her chair, shocked. "Seriously?" She said.

I nodded. "Yeah, I realized a little while ago that I haven't had my period since we came back from New York. Then I looked at the date and realized that it's been longer than that. So I left the office and went by the drug store and picked up 5 pregnancy tests." I told her.

"5? You bought five pregnancy tests?" She asked.

I nodded. The waitress brought our food out and sat it on the table. When she walked away, I went back to our conversation "I did. But you can't say anything to Colin. I haven't told him yet."

She nodded. "So, Logan called the other day." Steph said.

"Oh yeah… how's he doing?" I asked. I hadn't talked to Logan or Odette since Colin had come back from his spontaneous trip.

"He mentioned that Colin took a trip out there when you were in Rome." Steph said.

I took a bite of my sandwich and nodded. "Yeah, Colin was mad and distant so he took off to London. I didn't even know that he was gone until I came home and checked the credit card statement." I told Steph.

"Seriously?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, and then I called Odette to see if she had seem him, just so that I could make sure that he wasn't having an affair."

"Ror, there's no way that Colin would have an affair. He loves you way more than he ever loved me." Steph said.

 _I sat there and thought for a minute. Steph and Colin? It had been years since I had thought about the two of them together. Once upon a time, Colin had been madly in love with her. I don't even remember now why they'd broken up._

"I need to tell you something." Steph said pulling me from my thoughts.

I took a drink of my coke. "What is it?" I asked.

"You're the first one to know. Finn and I are together." She said.

"You and Finn?" I asked and she nodded. "How?"

"It was about two weeks ago, he'd called me to do the interior design for his new hotel. He'd said that I was the best designer that he knew. So I drove out to Boston and he showed me around. Well after I'd looked around, we were sitting in his apartment talking about themes when he asked me out. I was completely shocked to say the least. Anyway, the next night we went out to dinner and when he took me back to my hotel, he told me that he's liked me since college and would I be interested in an exclusive relationship with him."

"Wow. That's incredible. Who would have thought? I mean, I think that all of us thought that Finn was going to be the eternal bachelor." I said and Steph nodded. "So, that's why you've been spending so much time in Boston?"

"Yep."

Colin POV

I was waiting for Rory to get home. I had spent the last couple of hours pacing around the living room. When I'd gotten home, I'd gone to take a shower and I saw pregnancy test boxes in the bathroom trash. I didn't see the actual tests any where so I was curious. Since I didn't find the tests, I wondered if that meant that Rory was pregnant. Hell, for all I knew… she could have had a friend over earlier and they'd taken the test. I guess that's why I was so anxious about Rory getting home.

Rory and I had briefly talked about the subject of kids and we knew that the other wanted kids… that was no secret, but I didn't know that we'd been trying. I at least thought that we would have made a conscious decision together about when we were going to start trying for a family. I looked at the clock, it was a quarter to six. Rory would be home soon. I went into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. I knew that pregnant or not, Rory would want a cup of coffee. It's Rory. She's 99% coffee and 1% water. That would never change, but that was who Rory was. If she was pregnant, I was definitely happy that she wasn't traveling much anymore.

After I started the coffee pot, I went back into the living room and sat in my favorite chair. The only thing that I could do at this point was wait until she got home.

At 6 o'clock on the dot, Rory walked through the front door. "Hi honey." She said, in her usual cheerful voice.

"Hi. There's a fresh pot of coffee in the kitchen." I told her. _Wait for it. Wait for it._

"Thanks. I'm just gonna go change first." She said.

"Sure thing." I watched her walk towards our bedroom and waited for her to come back. I was going to ask her. I just had to wait for the right time. Ten minutes later, Rory walked back out of our bedroom. "So, how was your day?" I asked as I followed her into the kitchen.

"It was good. Really good, actually." She said.

"That's good." I said, leaning against the stove. "Today was your lunch with Steph, right?"

She nodded, while fixing her coffee. "Mhm-hmm."

"Everything good with her?"

"Yep." Rory said, turning around and staring at me. "What is wrong with you? What's with all the questions? You never ask me this many questions when I get home. It's usually 'how was your day?' and 'anything interesting happen?'"

I took a deep breath. This was it. "I found the pregnancy test boxes." I said.

"Oh." Rory said, grabbing her cup of coffee and walking out of the kitchen.

"Oh!" I said, following her. "That's all you have to say?"

She walked into the living room and sat on the couch in her usual spot while I sat across from her in my chair. "I was going to tell you when I got home."

"Okay, so… tell me."

"Alright, so I realized today that I hadn't had my period in a couple of months. So, I went by the drugstore and grabbed some pregnancy tests and stopped by here to take them. Every single one of them came up positive. So after my lunch with Steph, I went by my doctor's office so that they could confirm."

"And?" I asked.

"Colin McCrae, you are going to be a daddy." I said.

A/N: There you go guys, chapter 11! Okay, so let's play catch-up for a second. Logan and Odette are married. Colin and Rory got married. Steph and Finn are dating. And now The McCrae's are expecting. So much going on in the lives of our favorite characters. See you next time…


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Colin POV

I couldn't believe it. Rory had just told me that I was going to be a father. This was life changing. I almost passed out. I was having a hard time wrapping my head around what was happening. I mean talk about a surprise. I had so many thoughts going through my head. "Col? You okay over there?" I heard Rory ask me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I looked over at her and I noticed that there was something different about her. She looked happy. "Yeah. Well I think so at least." I stood up and walked over to the bar poured myself a glass of scotch. I took a drink. "How far along?" I asked her.

Rory turned around and looked at me. "6 weeks. Heartbeats strong. Doctor says that everything looks good." Rory told me.

I nodded and downed the rest of my drink.

Finn POV

I was in Hartford visiting Steph because it would be a while before she'd be able to come back out to Boston. I'd hired her as the interior designer for the new hotel that my company was building in Boston. The last time that Steph had been in Boston, we'd talked about themes for the hotel and had settled on the theme and color schemes.

Tonight we were getting together with Colin and Rory. Colin had called not long ago and said that he and Rory had an announcement. I had a feeling that Steph already knew but that Colin just didn't know that she knew. When Steph and I got to the restaurant, I noticed that Logan and Odette had flown in. "Hey Man. You guys flew in for this big announcement?" I asked Logan.

Logan nodded, taking a drink of his scotch. "Well Odette did. I was Hartford. Mom's sick and Dad couldn't get away from his trip in Germany." Logan said.

"Hmpf." I heard Steph mumble under her breath.

Logan looked at the way that Steph and I were sitting next to each other. "You two look cozy." Logan said.

Steph glared at him. "Back off. We're all adults. We're not in college anymore… but yes… Finn and I are together." Steph said.

Logan was about to open his mouth to say something, when we all turned and looked to see Colin and Rory approaching the table. I couldn't put my finger on it but there was something different about Rory. And Colin… well Colin seemed really nervous. "Dude… are you okay?" I asked him as they sat down at the table. Colin didn't say anything he just nodded.

"Thanks for coming out with us tonight." Rory said.

Logan and I both nodded. "Sure thing. It's been a while since we've all been out together." Odette said.

Rory smiled and nodded. "Yeah it has." She said. Something was off. "So… do we want to order first or do you guys just want the good news?"

Something was definitely off. "Just tell us… whatever it is… you know that you have our support." I said.

Rory POV

"I'm pregnant." I said. I sat there and looked around the table at our friends and tried to judge their reactions.

"Rory, that's amazing. Congratulations." Odette said.

"Yeah Ror, Congrats." Logan said. It was almost as if I could hear the disappoint in his voice. Granted, we'd both moved on… I could see it in his face and hear it in his voice that he wished that I was having his baby.

"Thanks." I said. I turned to Finn.

He looked right at me. "Your happy?" He asked and I nodded. "Then I will be proud to be Uncle Finn." I gave him a smile.

"Thanks. I know that it's a shock and it's definitely not something that we had planned but it'll be great." I said.

"Absolutely." Steph added. _I knew that with our friends by our side everything was going to be okay._

Once Colin had gotten over the shock of the pregnancy he was actually pretty excited about it. It was a pretty rough pregnancy. I had morning sickness for majority of the pregnancy. Colin and I had planned to go to New York for our anniversary but we had to cancel our trip because I was so sick. He was so worried about me that he took me to the ER. Turns out I was going into pre-term labor. He called Mom and Steph to come up there. I told him that he'd better call Logan and Odette to since their flight was 18 hours plus the wait time at the airport. Not only was I going into Pre-term labor but I was also severely dehydrated. The doctors ended up having to do an emergency C-section because the baby's heart rate started dropping. From what I was told they even had to put me under anesthesia because I started panicking. When I came to Colin was sitting in a chair beside my bed. "Colin?" I said, hoarse.

He sat up and kissed my forehead. "Thank god." He said. What? Had something happened?

"What's wrong? Is the baby okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Both you and the baby are fine. I mean she's a little premature but they said that except for being really small, she seems perfectly healthy." Colin said.

"Really?" He nodded. "What happened? I remember them taking me for the C-section and then nothing."

Colin sat back down and held my hand. "They said that the baby's heart dropped more once they got you into the OR, and you started to panic so they gave you some anesthesia to calm you down." Colin told me and I nodded.

The next day, we invited our friends and family up to the hospital. Everyone told me that they'd been worried about me but they were glad that both me and the baby were okay. We told everyone that even though the baby had to stay in the NICU for a while we wanted everyone to know her name. "We finally decided on a name. Her name is…. Lorelai Emily Gilmore-McCrae IV."

 _Who would have thought that with everything that Logan and I had been through over the years that it would have led to this. I loved Logan for a long time, but that night at my apartment in Brooklyn when Colin told that I deserved to be with someone that would put me first, it changed my life. Colin changed my life. He helped me see that I was better that I was giving myself credit for. Colin and I were married for 30 years and had two beautiful daughters and a son. Our oldest, Lorelai Emily (we nicknamed her Leah) went on to become a doctor. She married her college sweetheart Liam who's also a doctor. Our youngest daughter Marissa, decided to follow her own path (too much time with Uncle Finn) and she opened her own bar in New York. Our only son, Matt… well I guess that there was always gonna be that Gilmore blood running through him… he got his high school girlfriend pregnant when they were sixteen. We suggested that they get married. They agreed as long as they could live with us._

 _THE END._

A/N: Big thanks to everyone that has followed this story since the beginning. I have loved every minute of it but sometimes stories don't flow the way that you want them too. I hate that I brought this one to such a rapid end.


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